10 Awesome WordPress Features That You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

WordPress comes with so many awesome features and is continuously changing. Some of these features may not get the attention they deserve and remain a little hidden. In this article, we will show you 10 awesome WordPress features that you probably didn’t know existed.

1. Show/Hide Things Using Screen Options

You may have noticed the Screen Options button on some pages of your WordPress admin area. This Screen Options button allows you to show and hide items on the WordPress admin screen you are currently viewing.

Many beginner WordPress users are unaware of this feature. It allows you to simplify your admin pages like post edit screen to meet your workflow.

2. Move, Add, or Delete Dashboard Widgets

By default, users are redirected to the dashboard page in WordPress admin area when they login. The dashboard page has several handy shortcuts pointing to different sections of your website.

These sections are divided into different boxes called dashboard widgets. You can click on the Screen Options button to show or hide these boxes. You can also drag and drop them to rearrange items on your WordPress dashboard.

3. Paste URL to Make Links in Visual Editor

Many users didn’t realize that instead of using a popup to paste a link, they can just select a text and press CTRL+V (Command+V on mac) to paste the URL. The visual editor automatically converts it into a link.

4. Accessibility Mode for Widgets

We all like how easy it is to just drag and drop widgets into sidebars. However, for many users it is not easy to drag and drop things using a mouse or trackpad.

WordPress also comes with a hidden accessibility mode for widgets. This accessibility mode makes it easier to add widgets without draging and dropping the items.

Accessibility mode for WordPress widgets can be activated by clicking on Screen Options button on the Appearance » Widgets page.

One of the things you can do is to test the new theme without activating it. Simply install your new WordPress theme and then go to Appearance » Themes page.

Take the mouse to the newly installed theme’s thumbnail and then click on Live Preview button. WordPress will launch the theme customizer showing preview of your website using the new theme.

6. Edit Images in WordPress

WordPress makes it easy to add images to your posts and pages. What many beginners don’t know is that WordPress also comes with some basic image editing features.

Simply visit Media » Library page and then click on any image. From the image details popup you can click on the Edit Image button.

In the image editing mode, you can crop, rotate, and resize an image. You can also flip an image in horizontal or vertical directions. These image editing features come in handy when you need to quickly crop or resize a large image file directly from WordPress.

8. Embed Links, Videos, and Multimedia

WordPress automatically embeds content from some of the most popular websites like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. All you need to do is paste a URL from one of the supported sites and WordPress will automatically embed it for you.

Since WordPress 4.4, all WordPress sites have become oEmbed service providers themselves. This means you can paste URL from another WordPress site into your post and WordPress will embed the post for you.

9. Hidden Secret Options Page in WordPress

WordPress comes with a hidden master page for all your blog options. This page is hidden because users can easily mess things up here, so we don’t want you to use it. But you should definitely check it out. You can access it by visiting this URL:

10. Markdown and Keyboard Shortcuts Help you Write Faster

Most WordPress users spend more time writing content than anything else on their site. This is is why WordPress developers are always trying to improve the writing experience in WordPress.

WordPress comes with a whole range of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to write faster. Apart from these shortcuts, you can also use Markdown like formatting shortcuts. Just enter the formatting shortcuts and WordPress will convert them into HTML.

I don’t know if it was the right thing to reveal this to the public…”Hidden Secret Options Page in WordPress” mostly its features read only feature for user and the latest update of WordPress has vanished the irrelevant features for its non technical user.

APACHX
Apr 27, 2016 at 6:25 pm
Whenever, I insert the nextpage tag in the HTML of the post I get the page number at the bottom of the post area. But, the problem is that some other plugins like author box and wordpress related posts are being shown before the page numbering which makes it invisible to readers.

Is there any way to put the page numbering just below the post area e.g. below adsense link unit in the post area?

This means you can paste URL from another WordPress site into your post and WordPress will embed the post for you.
I have been trying to copy and paste a URL in my post and even tried to use the URL for this article and it does not work. I have the lastest update to WordPress.

Make sure you are pasting the link in the Visual editor. The text editor does not automatically show you an embed, but you will be able to see the embedded link when you preview your post or publish it.

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WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).